Writing for Healing

Are you someone who sends a quick comment to a friend on Messenger or mails a note to someone who is important to you?  If so, writing is already part of your life and a way you share your thoughts.  Writing for healing is a little different.  When you write to heal, the goal is to “process” your thoughts, especially the ones that are disturbing.  When we have a thought that is troubling, we often engage in an activity known as ruminating.  Ruminating is when a thought runs around in our head like a hamster on a wheel, exerting a lot of energy but getting nowhere.  In addition to the uselessness of rumination, the more we dwell on intrusive thoughts the more they grow.  Often a small issue becomes something far more serious.  

Finding the Root of the Problem

I recently read an article discussing the outmoded practice of punching a pillow to dispel upsetting emotions.  This is a behavior no longer encouraged by therapists because it is only a quick fix—certainly better than punching a person —but not a healing practice.  Until you focus on the cause of the troubling emotion, healing will not occur.  Engaging in research-based writing for healing is a much better way to process emotions and is a valuable habit to establish.  The simple act of putting thoughts down on paper is an evidence-based, clinically proven way to deal with releasing emotions— whether they are ones that have just surfaced or ones that have been buried for a long time.    

How to Begin

To begin, sit down with pen and paper, take a few minutes to quiet your mind and simply ask yourself what the troubling thoughts are all about.  Try to identify their source.  Ask yourself if this situation triggered something from your past—maybe childhood?  Question when you may have had an upsetting situation with a similar storyline, possibly a different setting or other characters, but something similar.  Often buried traumas have a sneaky way of resurfacing at the most inopportune times.  Writing the answers to these questions will help start the process of finding the root of the problem. Once you have this awareness, the healing begins.  There is a writing activity titled Personal Reflections following every exercise in my workbook, Creative Journeys: The Healing Powers of the Expressive Arts.  The Personal Reflections exercise is a way for you to journal the healing thoughts the activity has uncovered. 

There are many valuable books on the healing value of writing.  My favorite is The Healing Powers of Expressing Emotions by Dr. James Pennebaker, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.  Dr. Pennebaker states: “Under the right circumstances, writing promotes mental and physical health.  Although not a panacea, the judicious use of writing can improve the quality of life for many of us.”  Fifteen minutes a day is all that is required to incorporate this healing practice into your life.  I encourage you to give it a try.